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Selected:Failure Scenario AnalysisSAAM (Software Architecture Analysis Method)Pre-MortemAssumption Surfacing
| Criterion |  Engineering Failure Scenario Analysis |  Architecture SAAM (Software Architecture Analysis Method) |  Decision Making Pre-Mortem |  Decision Making Assumption Surfacing |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Purposedifferent | In critical processes, it is not enough to plan only for the normal case. Failure Scenario Analysis looks at the path into failure and shows which failures, chains, and control gaps cause the most damage. | SAAM helps teams judge an architecture’s suitability for selected tasks and changes. It is particularly useful for examining modifiability and comparing architecture alternatives with clear reasoning. | In early initiatives with many uncertainties, planning quickly turns too optimistic. A pre-mortem makes the expected failure visible in advance and sharpens the view of causes, gaps, and countermeasures. | Plans often contain assumptions that were never openly stated and remain dangerous precisely because of that. Assumption Surfacing makes these silent premises visible and prioritizes which of them carry the initiative or could sink it. |
Complexitydifferent | Medium | High | Low | Low |
Timedifferent | 1-3 h | Preparation, scenario analysis, and findings review; effort depends on scope | 20–45 min | 45-90 min |
Participantsdifferent | 3-8 | Architecture experts and stakeholders for scenarios and weighting | Small cross-functional group | 2-8 |
Formatdifferent | Workshop | Workshop + async | Workshop | Workshop + async |
Outputdifferent | Failure Scenarios, Risk Notes, Control Gaps, Test and Response Actions | Domain functions mapped to components and connections, Quality attributes and evaluation criteria, Typical tasks and their effects on the architecture, Reasoned evaluation or comparison of alternatives | Risk list, Mitigation plan, Assumption log | Assumption List, Critical Assumptions, Learning Plan |
Tagsno overlap | FailureResilienceRisk | ArchitectureChangeAnalysisComparisonQuality | RiskDecisionFailurePlanning | AssumptionsRiskDecisionDiscovery |